Posted on 5/13/125 by Bob Magee
Show Recap —
The show opened with a memorial graphic for “Sabu” Terrance
Brunk. RIP.
Judgment Day, AJ Styles, Iyo Sky, and Roxanne Perez and
Giulia (referred to by Michael Cole as “NXT upstarts”) were
shown arriving at the arena in Louisville.
There was a dramatic recap of last week’s main event angle.
Opening segment
CM Punk entered and pointed to the sky in tribute of Sabu.
Punk was pissed off. He nursed a few injuries and hurt
feelings since WrestleMania, but he couldn’t shake being
pissed off. He had a lot of enemies, and number one with a
bullet was himself.
He was mad at himself because they’d been here before. It
wasn’t the first time Paul Heyman stabbed him in the back.
Punk liked to trust his friends, so this was on him. Heyman
dropped a ladder on his head 12 years ago and left him with
13 staples in his head.
Punk thought they had moved past that because he matured as
a human being, but Heyman didn’t. Jey Uso warned him about
Heyman. Heyman was who he always was. He was a fat little
snake. Punk was also mad at “Temu CM Punk” Seth Rollins.
Punk couldn’t wait to get his hands on Heyman’s fat neck and
squeeze until his eyeballs popped.
Heyman marched out as Punk mocked him by referring to him as
The Penguin. Heyman remained near the stage as Punk warned
him that his next words would be his last.
Rollins and Bron Breakker joined Heyman on the stage.
Rollins said Punk found a way to be even more egotistical.
Heyman was his best friend, but Punk made his life hell on
the road to Mania. Heyman believed in Punk when no one else
did. Rollins believed that Punk was human excrement. Rollins
said he would be champion if not for Punk.
Punk said Rollins would never be champ as long as he was on
two feet. Rollins figured out that Punk loved to play the
victim and be a martyr, so he sent Bron after Punk.
Punk tried fighting them off, but the numbers caught up to
him. Sami Zayn ran out to even the odds, but Bron suplexed
him easily.
Jey Uso came out and the crowd cheered, but he got beaten up
too. The heels finally backed off when both Punk and Zayn
hit the ring with chairs.
(Punk was good here, but this was a fairly standard segment.
The babyfaces didn’t look great getting beaten up one at a
time. I also don’t know how much more I need to see Punk and
Rollins trade insults.)
********
Cole called the opening segment alone. After Penta and Chad
Gable entered for the opening match (Gable’s entrance was
during a break), Pat McAfee entered to his music to join
Cole on commentary. They tried to explain that McAfee was
only coming out now because he just finished getting cleared
by medical, but they obviously wanted to give him a TV
entrance.
Penta vs. Chad Gable (w/Ivy Nile)
Penta tried a dive early on, but Gable knocked him out of
mid-air with a headbutt—the same headbutt used by El Grande
Americano, but without the loaded mask. Gable repeatedly
tugged at Penta’s mask during a break for heat.
Penta made his comeback immediately following the break, but
Gable cut him off with a bridging German suplex for two.
Gable flew off the top, but Penta caught him with a
Codebreaker. Gable hit a moonsault for two and applied an
ankle lock, but Penta immediately rolled out of it and hit a
superkick for two.
Gable taunted Penta as they stood on the ropes, but Penta
shoved him off. Gable landed on his feet, but Penta followed
with a great-looking Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win.
This was pretty good.
Match result: Penta defeated Chad Gable (11:04)
********
There was a pre-taped promo by Roxanne Perez and Giulia.
They didn’t plan on waiting around for their turn, so they
were going after the two women on top. The future started
tonight.
During a break, there was a video package of John Cena’s win
over Randy Orton.
Kofi Kingston was shown taking in the Louisville Slugger
Museum.
Judgment Day met in the back. There was some silly comedy
with Dom not understanding that Liv Morgan was in a
different time zone. (Hopefully, this bit wasn’t a result of
a real conversation that somebody had backstage.) Finn Bálor
assured Dom that he would take care of AJ Styles tonight.
There was a recap of Gunther beating McAfee. They cut back
to the announcers, and the fans gave McAfee a loud ovation.
McAfee tried to play it humble, but Cole told him to stand
up and take it in. McAfee thanked the fans before showing
that he was still bruised and had popped a blood vessel in
his eye. McAfee had respect for Gunther and felt Gunther now
had respect for them.
********
Announced for Saturday Night’s Main Event: CM Punk & Sami
Zayn vs. Seth Rollins & Bron Breakker.
Zayn met with Punk backstage. Punk admitted to Zayn he was
having a hard time trusting anybody. Zayn had difficulty
trusting Punk at WarGames, but it worked out pretty well.
They both liked to do things their own way and had similar
ambitions, but they would get nowhere with Rollins and Bron
standing in their way. Zayn said they could take them out
together. They bumped fists.
********
The opening match was followed by a long string of videos,
backstage segments, and commercial breaks, so the show’s
second match began with less than ten minutes remaining in
the first hour, and they went to break again about two
minutes into it.
The New Day joined commentary to watch the next match. Cole
said the winner of this match could earn a future tag title
shot.
The War Raiders vs. The Creed Brothers
Ivar made a comeback as they returned from break, but Julius
hit him with a superplex, and Brutus followed with a
moonsault for two. The War Raiders fought back, and Erik
rammed Ivar into Julius in the corner, but Brutus broke up
the cover. Brutus gave Ivar an impressive Angle Slam, but
the crowd didn’t really react. Ivar tried a double
handspring elbow, but the Creeds caught him out of the air
and slammed him.
Erik broke up the cover and tried to psych up Ivar, but
became distracted by Xavier Woods. Kingston attacked Ivar as
he went to the top, allowing the Creeds to hit Brutus Ball
for the pinfall win.
New Day ran off quite proud of themselves.
Match result: The Creed Brothers defeated The War Raiders
(10:27)
********
Rollins assured Bron that Punk and Zayn had no idea what he
was capable of. Rollins left for the evening, but whispered
one final message to Bron. Bron smirked, and Rollins told
him to have fun.
Adam Pearce quickly met with Jey Uso backstage. (Bálor could
be seen talking to Perez in the background.)
Cathy Kelley interviewed A-Town Down Under during a break.
She asked about the elephant in the room, but Grayson Waller
said they weren’t there to talk about her mom. Waller tried
to get Austin Theory a rematch against Sheamus, but Theory
said he already got Waller a match against Sheamus.
They let us know that the clip of Logan Paul attacking Jey
Uso got over 16 million social media views in 12 hours.
********
Jey Uso segment
Jey entered to a big reaction. The crowd chanted “One more
time,” the music was played again, and they all Yeeted
again.
Jey said there was a big target on his big back, so he
wanted to get something off his big chest. Logan Paul was
talking out of the side of his mouth by claiming he wasn’t
championship material. Paul was ducking him and sneaking
him, but at SNME, it was the two of them face-to-face. Jey
called himself the “arena shaker” and said he would still be
our world champion after SNME.
Gunther interrupted. The crowd chanted, “You tapped out.”
Gunther said the unimaginable came true: Jey Uso was World
Heavyweight Champion. Gunther noted this was their first
time together since that moment. Jey clarified that the
moment was when Gunther tapped out. The crowd chanted it
again.
Gunther said he knew what it meant to be champion. Just
because he understood doesn’t mean his opinion of Jey has
changed. This position was not natural to Jey because he was
not a natural champion.
Gunther had news to share (that Jey already knew): the
winner of the SNME title match would face Gunther next.
Gunther announced that the match would be Raw on June 9th in
Phoenix, Arizona. (Interesting, because they often don’t
give the exact date. Could be a way to push ticket sales for
that particular show.)
Gunther really hoped that his opponent would be Jey so he
could put him in his place.
Jey fired up and said he was already in the place he should
be. He ran this place and would walk out of their match just
like he did at WrestleMania—as World Heavyweight Champion.
Yeet.
(Jey is very good at being Jey Uso, and I mean that as a
compliment. It felt like he struggled at times leading up to
his big moment, but he was great here.)
********
Cole and McAfee paid tribute to Sabu as pictures were shown.
Cole called him a legendary ECW superstar. A two-time
champion who had a legendary rivalry with his friend, Taz.
McAfee said they were forever grateful for Sabu’s influence.
Cole sent condolences to Sabu’s family and friends. The
crowd chanted, “Thank you, Sabu.”
********
During a break, Erik and Ivar screamed at Pearce backstage
until Kingston and Woods entered to mock them. Predictably,
Pearce announced that New Day would defend their titles in a
triple threat.
Jackie Redmond tried interviewing Ludwig Kaiser, but there
was a nearby commotion. Jey Uso was laid out with Bron
Breakker standing over him. Bron left as officials checked
on Jey. Zayn and Punk joined to check on him.
********
AJ Styles vs. Finn Bálor (w/JD McDonagh & Carlito)
Cole referred to Styles and Bálor as former leaders of the
Bullet Club. He repeatedly noted that Dom was not there with
Judgment Day.
As with the other matches tonight, they went to break
quickly, less than two minutes into it.
Styles was on offence until he became distracted by McDonagh
on the apron. Cole referred to this as the “first”
distraction of the match. I guess he knows what’s coming.
They dropped each other with a double clothesline spot,
leading to a second commercial break, nine minutes into the
match.
Styles hit a superplex as they returned from break. They
traded strikes until Styles caught Bálor’s Pelé Kick attempt
and applied a calf crusher, but Bálor got a rope break.
Bálor hit a slingblade and dropkick, but Styles avoided a
Coup de Grace. Styles tried the calf crusher, but before
Bálor could break it, AJ hit a Styles Clash for two.
Cole was right because Carlito hopped on the apron for our
second ref distraction. Styles knocked down McDonagh, but
the distraction allowed Bálor to hit an elevated reverse
DDT.
Penta appeared on the barricade to take out the outside
Judgment Day members. He leaped off McDonagh to hit Carlito
with a Canadian Destroyer.
Styles hit Bálor with a Phenomenal forearm for the pinfall
win.
(This was good enough, but nothing you needed to see. The
crowd was quiet for most of the match, but got into it as it
picked up towards the end.)
Match result: AJ Styles defeated Finn Bálor (17:00)
********
Becky Lynch made her way through the back. (Karrion Kross
gave t-shirts to New Day in the background.)
Becky Lynch promo
Lynch said she was not beaten at Backlash. Valkyria was
beaten at Backlash. The fans didn’t believe her, but one of
them was taken to the hospital (Lyra), while the other went
to their big bus, had a shower and a glass of tequila while
basking in her brilliance (Becky).
After everything Valkyria did to her—attacking her character
for weeks—Lynch brought out the best in her and gave her the
best match of her career. Valkyria has never mattered more
than she has now.
She realized how much she was manipulated not only by
Valkyria but also by the fans. She walked away for almost a
year because the fans basically asked her to. She saw their
reaction after the last time she won the world title, and if
she wasn’t there to win the title, then there was no point.
Lynch had always been for the people because she had them to
thank for her career. They saw themselves in her, and they
were in this together. And then something happened—she won.
They couldn’t see themselves in her anymore because they
were failures and hated what they could not understand.
One of Lynch’s friends asked if she missed it while she was
gone. She missed being in the ring, but she liked herself
more now because she didn’t have to listen to the fans tell
her what she was about. She heard the same lies from the one
person she had hope for in this business.
It all changed from here on out. “From now on, whatever you
say I am, I am. So I’m selfish? Yes, I am. I’m greedy? Yes,
I am. I’m cutthroat? Yes, I am.”
All the girls in the back who were happy she was gone
because they thought they were safe were finally going to
find out what it feels like to be held down by The Man.
********
There was a Rusev video package. He would rather his
brothers fall by his hand than fall into the abyss.
Akira Tozawa asked Pearce for a match against Rusev. Maxxine
Dupri and Natalya had his back, but Pearce said he wasn’t
cleared. Sheamus showed up and gave him respect for not
backing down.
After Alpha Academy left, Sheamus spoke to Pearce. Sheamus
proposed a match against Grayson Waller. Pearce acted like
this was the first he had heard of this and granted the
match. Sheamus was happy. I guess some wires got crossed
because they already announced this match earlier.
********
Next week on Raw:
Money in the Bank qualifiers
AJ Styles & Penta vs. Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh
Sheamus vs. Grayson Waller
Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker (non-title)
********
Women’s World Champion IYO SKY & Rhea Ripley vs. Roxanne
Perez & Giulia
(Perez and Ripley wore similar gear to the point where they
looked like partners.)
The heels were in control through a break over Sky, but
Ripley made a hot tag when they returned from break. She
gave Perez a Razor’s Edge and a running kick for two. Perez
brought Ripley off the top with a hurricanrana for two.
Giulia gave Ripley a vertical suplex before Perez hit a
middle rope moonsault for two.
Sky made the next hot tag and hit Giulia with a missile
dropkick. They all traded moves until Sky hit a moonsault,
but Perez broke up the cover. Ripley elevated Sky into a
dropkick to take out Giulia. Sky wiped out Perez with a
springboard dropkick.
Giulia tripped Ripley off the apron before hitting Sky with
an impressive avalanche butterfly suplex and brainbuster,
but Ripley broke up the cover. Some more stuff happened
until Ripley pushed Sky out of the way of a Perez flying
crossbody, and Perez wiped out Giulia by accident.
Ripley hit Giulia with a Rip-tide (as Sky held down Perez)
for the pinfall win.
— As Sky and Ripley posed together, Ripley took a long look
at the women’s title belt. They gave each other a knowing
look as the show ended.
(This was pretty good, but somewhat messy at times. It felt
like there were long periods with all four women in the ring
at the same time. The crowd was oddly quiet for it despite
being really into Ripley at the beginning.)
Match result: Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY defeated Giulia &
Roxanne Perez (14:00)